Opposition to Valley View shelter grows

If it wasn't clear before, Kane County officials learned Tuesday night the people with the largest financial interest and the loudest voices in the old Valley View area don't want a local church to open a homeless shelter.

But the ministry behind the application still believes that interest and those voices shouldn't override their calling to help people.

H.E.L.P.S. Ministry wants to open an overnight shelter to house up to 20 homeless people overnight. But a familiar parade of people appeared once again before the county's Zoning Board Authority to ask questions and express fears about the shelter.

The zoning board already approved the ministry's application once. However, a flawed public notification process sparked the need for a do-over.

The vast majority of public comment at the hearing regurgitated the same fears the Valley View community expressed in previous public forums. Neighbors of the ministry said a ministry with no formal training shouldn't be allowed to operate a homeless shelter. Several of them said they'd called the county's five existing homeless shelters and found plenty of beds available, indicating no need for another shelter. And for the first time, someone suggested the homeless shelter could have a multimillion dollar negative impact on the community.

Bob Meiborg, vice president land development at M/I Homes, told the zoning board his company purchased land intended for construction of more than 200 townhouses near the proposed shelter. He said his company will invest $10 million into the area in the next couple of years, but a homeless shelter would crush the marketability of those new homes.

"I don't believe anyone in this room can say a project like this will not negatively impact us," Meiborg said. "It's just a matter of how much. Even slight impacts can be disastrous in this economy."

Aside from Meiborg's testimony, the main difference between Tuesday's hearing and previous public discussions of the proposed homeless shelter was the absence of Angelo Valdes. Valdes runs the H.E.L.P.S. Ministry and has been the person accountable for the application up to now. Representatives from his church said Valdes was attending a ministerial conference and could not attend. In his absence, Valdes' young son, his wife and a member of his staff, Terina Erb, defended the project. They were joined by about 10 people who identified themselves as recipients of help from the ministry in the past. Debbie Sall was among them.

"A lot of people call the church during storms when they've found their shelter in the woods is soaked during a storm," she said. "We get calls from people in the winter who are cold and hungry. All we're asking for is an emergency shelter. We're not asking for anything long term to keep people for months on end. There has to be an option during those times when the other shelters are full. We'd like to be that option."

The zoning board will vote on the application at its next meeting on Sept. 14.